Agree that Nightmare 3 (Dream Warriors) is awesome. It's great because the kids get to actually fight back throughout the movie.

My favorites (since we're here)

Halloween 1&2: Agree completely with Hiko, MM is just cold, and that's what make this franchise so awesome. Donald Pleasance OWNED his character. A very nuanced performance that gets overlooked because it was a horror film.

Freddie 1&3 (Freddy's Dead is entertaining, though)

Jason VI just because jason took someone in a sleeping bag and bashed them against the tree like he was chopping wood. I still get a chuckle out of that one.

HATED the Chucky movies, but felt obligated to mention them. That kid in the first movie was so offensivley stupid, I wanted him to die.

On a related note, the SCARIEST horror movie I've ever seen is Murneau's original Nosferatu. Still creeps me out to this day -- and yes I watched Shadow of the Vampire because if Nosferatu scares you, you HAVE to watch that movie.

I don't think SOTL and Alien should ever be mentioned in the same breath as those other movies like Halloween, Ft13th, NOES etc. B/C both the former movies are just such good movies that can stand on their own without the genre label and obviously b/c of the vast array of characters.

Having said that I think the Halloween movie (1 & 2, and Zombies recut) are all better than all the NOES, F13s etc combined. The suspense and horror is so much more subtle and instinctive, esp with Michael.

Thing about Hannibal as Lars hit on was he was such an extremely intelligent character, more intelligent than any of the characters trying to capture him. While he was a psychopath he was refined, and had "rules" and manners. I think that is why he was so likable. He didn't have the road rage mentality of other psychopaths, he didn't need to kill everyone, would have been a waste of his time. You could say Hannibal almost had morals.

Lars likes him b/c he could cook.

Criminals in this town used to believe in things...honor, respect."I heard your dog is sick, so bought you this shovel"

FUDU wrote:I don't think SOTL and Alien should ever be mentioned in the same breath as those other movies like Halloween, Ft13th, NOES etc. B/C both the former movies are just such good movies that can stand on their own without the genre label and obviously b/c of the vast array of characters.

Having said that I think the Halloween movie (1 & 2, and Zombies recut) are all better than all the NOES, F13s etc combined. The suspense and horror is so much more subtle and instinctive, esp with Michael.

Thing about Hannibal as Lars hit on was he was such an extremely intelligent character, more intelligent than any of the characters trying to capture him. While he was a psychopath he was refined, and had "rules" and manners. I think that is why he was so likable. He didn't have the road rage mentality of other psychopaths, he didn't need to kill everyone, would have been a waste of his time. You could say Hannibal almost had morals.

FUDU wrote:I don't think SOTL and Alien should ever be mentioned in the same breath as those other movies like Halloween, Ft13th, NOES etc. B/C both the former movies are just such good movies that can stand on their own without the genre label and obviously b/c of the vast array of characters.

Having said that I think the Halloween movie (1 & 2, and Zombies recut) are all better than all the NOES, F13s etc combined. The suspense and horror is so much more subtle and instinctive, esp with Michael.

Thing about Hannibal as Lars hit on was he was such an extremely intelligent character, more intelligent than any of the characters trying to capture him. While he was a psychopath he was refined, and had "rules" and manners. I think that is why he was so likable. He didn't have the road rage mentality of other psychopaths, he didn't need to kill everyone, would have been a waste of his time. You could say Hannibal almost had morals.

There's about a 95% chance my company will allow me to take on a consulting type position in Shanghai sometime in 2013. The assignment would be anywhere from 8 months to 2 years, perhaps longer but I would have to commute to our new rolling mill in Zhenjiang City which is about 3hr using public transit. What advice would you give a young imperialist like myself in terms of preparing for life abroad (both in China and in general) as well as whether I should demand over and above more pay for this type of career change? I thought about it all weekend and I can't find a reason not to do this. I don't want to get my MBA (its a diluted product and I trust my business sense more than 99% of the people my age who do have them) so having experience outside of the USA seems like a pretty damn good alternative. I've always wanted to travel and this is more than likely the best opportunity I will ever get to explore all of Asia. Anyone else who has suggestions or comments feel free to PM me or post here. Thanks!

"All Beckett needs to do to cap off this mess is order some fried chicken and beer" – 5/10/12 before Beckett got chased in the 3rd at Fenway.

Dude? 3 hours of commuting a day? When the fuck are you going to explore?

I mean, you go if you get the chance, but fuck that noise.

My ex-roomate did a similar thing with Fidelity a few years back, they paid for his apartment in Tokyo as his "raise." I'd demand something similar if not more than that, because fuck 3 hours of commuting with a rusty poll.

That is definitely a dilemma, but one I am willing to discuss with the company. I'm not sure how often I will need to be at the plant considering the core of the role is building the financial reporting tools and helping with our new Oracle integration. If I can work out of the Shanghai office most of the time, I don't mind a commute 2-3 times a week. I'd work a decent amount on the weekend and all I need is a laptop and crackberry. I don't sleep much (4-6 hours but eat healthy and exercise a lot) so traveling on the weekends on little to no sleep is something I look forward to. If 25% of my time out there is like Kip Pardue's Eurobender in "Rules of Attraction", I'll be more than satisfied.

"All Beckett needs to do to cap off this mess is order some fried chicken and beer" – 5/10/12 before Beckett got chased in the 3rd at Fenway.

My suggestions from what I've seen/experienced at a couple different companies:

- Get as much additional compensation as you can. You're going to run into expenses you aren't even considering. You may feel greedy, but get as much as you can while you've got some leverage because once you're over there, its going to be a lot harder to negotiate/change.- Plan to be over there longer than they say. You say 8mos-2years, so maybe your company is being upfront with you by giving you a range, but in general; they're always going to find more that needs to be done, and it's always going to be easier to get you to do it, than send someone new.-On the MBA, I think you're on the right track. At my current company, I don't know how much they value MBA's, as I'm not on the business side, but I do know that you can not climb the ladder without a stint abroad. It's a pre-requisite. As the workplace becomes more and more global, it stands to reason this type of thinking would increase.

RickNashEquilibrium wrote:That is definitely a dilemma, but one I am willing to discuss with the company. I'm not sure how often I will need to be at the plant considering the core of the role is building the financial reporting tools and helping with our new Oracle integration. If I can work out of the Shanghai office most of the time, I don't mind a commute 2-3 times a week. I'd work a decent amount on the weekend and all I need is a laptop and crackberry. I don't sleep much (4-6 hours but eat healthy and exercise a lot) so traveling on the weekends on little to no sleep is something I look forward to. If 25% of my time out there is like Kip Pardue's Eurobender in "Rules of Attraction", I'll be more than satisfied.

Before I can give any real advice I need to know if you work for a large multi-national company that does these relocations on a regular basis? If so then there are most likely policies and procedures in place somewhere that your local managemnet might not know.

If this is out of the ordinary, then you might have some flexibility. First thing is I would not let them know how bad you really want to go. I would tell them it seems like a good opportunity but you need to know a bit more. Next I would drop the "reasonable and customary" level of support for your industry (might take some research on your part). I am assuming IT but maybe financial/banking?

Anyway, I can tell you want is reasonable and customary in my industryTransfer bonus depending on regionSalary uplift - China would be 25%Housing allownace commensurate with your grade/positionVacation allownace again based on your grade/positionFree US income tax return preparationCompany pays all of your local taxes and fees (except in the UK)Sometimes shipping of hosehold items, but in this case I would opt for a furnished flatNote that all the above is taxable by the US Feds, but check into the foreign earned income tax exemption and see how much it is

Also, be very careful with the 8 month "short term assignment". You will need to check this with a tax guy familiar with overseas income. Not sure if 8 months gets you any exemption or tax credit.

Good luck

I don't need to be patient, they're going to be shit forever. - CDT, discussing my favorite NFL team

RickNashEquilibrium wrote:Before I can give any real advice I need to know if you work for a large multi-national company that does these relocations on a regular basis? If so then there are most likely policies and procedures in place somewhere that your local managemnet might not know.

If this is out of the ordinary, then you might have some flexibility. First thing is I would not let them know how bad you really want to go. I would tell them it seems like a good opportunity but you need to know a bit more. Next I would drop the "reasonable and customary" level of support for your industry (might take some research on your part). I am assuming IT but maybe financial/banking?

Anyway, I can tell you want is reasonable and customary in my industryTransfer bonus depending on regionSalary uplift - China would be 25%Housing allownace commensurate with your grade/positionVacation allownace again based on your grade/positionFree US income tax return preparationCompany pays all of your local taxes and fees (except in the UK)Sometimes shipping of hosehold items, but in this case I would opt for a furnished flatNote that all the above is taxable by the US Feds, but check into the foreign earned income tax exemption and see how much it is

Also, be very careful with the 8 month "short term assignment". You will need to check this with a tax guy familiar with overseas income. Not sure if 8 months gets you any exemption or tax credit.

Good luck

We are a global recycling company with our main offices in Ohio, Zurich and Shanghai. I currently work in FP&A for one of our manufacturing segments and but this would be something more cross-functional with corporate finance/IT. Thank you for the input Matt. I will take all of those points into consideration prior to any further discussions.

"All Beckett needs to do to cap off this mess is order some fried chicken and beer" – 5/10/12 before Beckett got chased in the 3rd at Fenway.

e0y2e3 wrote:Dude? 3 hours of commuting a day? When the fuck are you going to explore?

I mean, you go if you get the chance, but fuck that noise.

My ex-roomate did a similar thing with Fidelity a few years back, they paid for his apartment in Tokyo as his "raise." I'd demand something similar if not more than that, because fuck 3 hours of commuting with a rusty poll.

Ha, I totally overlooked your assumption. Its 3 hours to the mill, 6 hours round trip. So yeah, I'd hit the Shanghai South Station which is a 2 hr 47min trip to the mill at 4:29am then head back at around 6pm to get home at 9pm. Those times are for the slower trains, the high speed rails can get me there in a little over an hour. That would be the way to go if I can schedule my days accordingly.

"All Beckett needs to do to cap off this mess is order some fried chicken and beer" – 5/10/12 before Beckett got chased in the 3rd at Fenway.

Look, I'm all for sleeping your way across Asia for a year or two, but I might kill myself if I had to commute for six hours a day.

I'd ask for what Matt outlined above (fairly standard per my friends) and also play real fucking coy about that commute to both get a bit more and to try and limit the number or times you'd have to make the trip.

Also, I spent one year in FP&A, most boring shit ever. Gawd bless you.

Companies will pay you huge with the knowledge and insight you will gain from dealing with the Red Dragon.

As a recommendation, get your company to pay for on-line MBA course or combo.

RNE,

Let me offer a another view point to this. Companies love to pigeon hole people. If you want to be foreign traveler guy all your life then go for it. If not, then consider the fact that you might be always be getting the call when an int'l gig comes up. When you are married and have kids you might not like it so much and then it may hinder your progress through the company when you decline the travel. If that ultimately means you leave the company for a stable local job, the companies you are looking to going to go to may not value the foreign experience at all and might even discard you from the list of candidates because it will not make sense that foreign travel guy wants to work at boring stateside ABC Co. (pigeon hole)

Good point Hebs, but me thinks the wealth of experience/ knowledge gained from said opportunity trumps pigeon hole label potential.If another foreign tour would arise I would think it would be one "up the ladder" which would only be offered to someone with that kind of experience. China is the GORILLA in the room.

Appreciating the state of the economy, most companies aren't really very sensitive as to if employee might be bored if offered a local/domestic position. They got 750 candidates if you don't want the position.

No kryptonyte and Superman dominates, the yellow sun makes him nothing resembling a man, especially since you can grab a hose and take out Iron Man, he'll rust.

... and the cars, you completely ignored the best car decade in US history, and you were born in it.

The question was which car I would buy. I'm pretty sure I got that right...

You're a horespower freak. I'm a classic stylist less concerned with horsepower, especially considering how close I am to losing my license from the ridiculous amount of speeding tickets I've received. I'm built for comfort, not for speed.

Regarding the battle royal, there's strategy involved. That was the point. More often than not in life it isn't the best fighter that wins, but more the man that avoids the fight in the first place. Tony Stark would be cagey enough to recognize this and come out victorious.

LarsHancock wrote:Regarding the battle royal, there's strategy involved. That was the point. More often than not in life it isn't the best fighter that wins, but more the man that avoids the fight in the first place. Tony Stark would be cagey enough to recognize this and come out victorious.

Ah.....the cagey thing. That would explain the only hope C.M. Punk has against Rybak & Cena in the upcoming 3-way match.

Seems the Browns, Cavs, & Tribe are forced to rely on being "cagey" way too often.

LarsHancock wrote:Regarding the battle royal, there's strategy involved. That was the point. More often than not in life it isn't the best fighter that wins, but more the man that avoids the fight in the first place. Tony Stark would be cagey enough to recognize this and come out victorious.

Ah.....the cagey thing. That would explain the only hope C.M. Punk has against Rybak & Cena in the upcoming 3-way match.

Seems the Browns, Cavs, & Tribe are forced to rely on being "cagey" way too often.

If the Steelers, Ravens, Bengals, and Browns could all play football at the same time, the Browns could come out on top because nobody would respect them. They could go three and out for an entire half of football while the other three beat the snot out of each other, completely disrespecting the Browns of course, and then we could come back in the fourth quarter and dominate with a fresh team. Except that we have an idiot for a coach who would run out with fire and get killed and also wither at the end like he usually does through constant ineptitude and lack of creativity.

Unfortunately the whole concept of battle royal does not translate to football. We actually did adopt this theory earlier this year vs. the Ravens and hoped they would overlook us. They didn't.

So we have to win the old fashioned way by wining 1:1 battles with a superior team and coaching. Maybe we can try putting both together next year for the first time since the Earth was believed to be otherwise to round.